by Sean Pratt | Sep 25, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Dr. Hannibal Lecter: “We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don’t you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don’t your eyes seek out the things you want?” It’s ideas about the acts of looking and participating that linger long after the...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 24, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Otis: “I’m going to make a movie about you.” James: “Make me look good, Honey Boy.” I think we all know by now of the healing powers of cinema. I do not know what I would have done without it the past few months for it has definitely kept me sane and...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 23, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The only thing that matters in life is relationships,” says Julian. There are movies that sneak past me. I try to be as open minded as possible and never try to judge a film by its cover. I had read about “Truman” (2015) – the Spanish film that...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 22, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Aguirre: “Have you seen any solid ground that would support your weight?” I know I have recommended a lot of films to you in the past months, but if you have never seen “Aguirre, The Wrath of God” (1972) I encourage you to rectify this immediately....
by Sean Pratt | Sep 21, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Heathcliff, make the world stop right here. Make everything stop and stand still and never move again. Make the moors never change and you and I never change,” exclaims Catherine in William Wyler’s 1939 adaptation of Emily Bronte’s gothic romance...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 20, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I ask no favor for my sex,” says Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg at the beginning of “RBG” (2018). “All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” Left bereft on Friday night, and simply not knowing whether to turn...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 19, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear SBIFF Family, Let your freak flag fly high with Shrek and his friends in this week’s Family Fun Film, “Shrek!” Trail along on their journey to Duloc to save the homes of the fairy tale characters who have occupied Shrek’s swamp. For some entertainment on the...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 18, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, There’s a powerful – almost seismic – moment in the funny and affectionate “Dolemite is my Name” (2019). Three black men – including our main protagonist Rudy Ray Moore – decide to go to the movies and pick Billy Wilder’s “The Front Page” for the...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 17, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I’m interested in the way we tell stories about our lives. About the fact that the truth about the past is often ephemeral and difficult to pin down,” says Sarah Polley in the enigmatic and affectionate documentary “Stories We Tell.” Memory and how...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 16, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Richard Bone: “You know, you’ve got one big problem.” Alex Cutter: “What’s that?” Richard Bone: “Your imagination.” Alex Cutter: “These are just the facts, Rich. I mean, I haven’t even begun to let my imagination loose on this one.” I’ve always loved...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 15, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “It’s amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy,” George comments about our leading lady in the insubordinate romantic comedy “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997). There are times during this big studio release starring America’s sweetheart,...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 14, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “He told me the whole earth was going up in flames… There’s gonna be creatures running every which way, some of them burned, half their wings burning. People are gonna be screamin’ and hollerin’ for help,” says Linda – the young narrator in...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 13, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Whenever I hear the rousing score of “The Magnificent Seven” I get goosebumps. Even on its own, it’s got to be one of the greatest compositions ever – but combined with the movie that goes along with it, the result is pure adventure and fun. I’ve...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 12, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear SBIFF Family, Ready to earn your Wilderness Explorer badge in this week’s Family Fun Film, “Up?” Follow Carl, as he fulfills his wife’s lifelong dream to go to Paradise Falls by turning his house into a blimp with hundreds of helium-filled balloons. Whip on some...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 11, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “That’s why I like road trips. It’s good to remind yourself the world’s larger than the inside of your own head.” – Jake In the past few months, I have had extremely vivid dreams – and there have been times when my colleagues have momentarily confused...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 10, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, Trip: “I ain’t fighting this war for you sir.” Col. Robert Gould Shaw: “I see.” Trip: “I mean, whats the point? Ain’t nobody going to win. It’s just gonna to go on and on.” The above dialogue is between Trip, a fugitive slave soldier fighting in the...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 9, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “We have to carry on with our lives as if nothing happened,” says Sarah in the deceptive and erotic thriller “Swimming Pool” (2003) directed by France’s François Ozon. The film stars one of the most alluring actors in cinema, Charlotte Rampling....
by Sean Pratt | Sep 8, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I tried it once and it doesn’t work. You get four guys, all fighting over who is going to be Mr. Black. But they don’t know each other, so no one wants to back down,” says Joe Cabot – the organizer of the soon-to-go-wrong jewelry heist at...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 7, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I think the reason why Mommy left… was because for a long time… I kept trying to make her be a certain kind of person. A certain kind of wife that I thought she was supposed to be. And she just wasn’t like that,” explains Ted Kramer to...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 6, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “Even when I didn’t like you, I loved you,” admits Paul – one half of the newlywed couple whose marriage gets put to the test in the beguiling “Barefoot in the Park” (1967.) I was a little concerned about revisiting this classic romantic farce because...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 5, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Bonjour SBIFF Famille! On today’s menu we have the Family Fun Film, “Ratatouille.” You don’t need to be a professional chef to whip up a delicious dish. Nobody knows this better than Remy, a rat with impressive chef skills, who makes an unusual alliance with a young...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 4, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball,” says Annie Savoy in the sexy, smart and humorous “Bull Durham” (1988). It happens to be in my opinion the best baseball movie – and a very entertaining film for...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 3, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The human spirit is more powerful than any drug, and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter. This is what we’d forgotten, the simplest things.” Those words are spoken by Dr....
by Sean Pratt | Sep 2, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I came up with the concept of winning,” states Ray Kroc. “While you guys were content by being a couple of also-rans. I’m going to take the future. I wanna win. And you don’t get there by being some aw-shucks nice guy sap. There’s no place in...
by Sean Pratt | Sep 1, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “I’ve had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature,” exclaims Elinor Dashwood. I’ve been caught in this gravitational pull watching Jane Austin film adaptations during our current privation. I have found...
by Sean Pratt | Aug 31, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “What are the 39 steps?” If you’re a true cinephile, and you do not know the answer to that question we’ve got some work to do. Consider this a serious intervention. “The 39 Steps” is a 1935 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Let me rephrase that....
by Sean Pratt | Aug 30, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “When I hit that stage, people better be ready,” says James Brown, played in a barn-burning performance by Chadwick Boseman in “Get on Up” (2014). In person, Boseman was a gentle soul. He had these big, expressive eyes and high cheekbones that would...
by Sean Pratt | Aug 29, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear SBIFF Family, See how the possibilities are endless when we meet an adventurous, brave young princess named Rapunzel and her trusty pal, Pascal, in this week’s Family Fun Film, “Tangled.” Flynn Rider – also known as Eugene – unwittingly saves Rapunzel and...
by Sean Pratt | Aug 28, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “The story is urban crime creeping into the suburbs. That’s the story,” says adamantly Nina Romina — the news director at KWLA — in the riveting “Nightcrawler” (2014). More than 40 years ago the film “Network” directed by Sidney Lumet...
by Sean Pratt | Aug 27, 2020 | Film Recommendations
Dear Cinephiles, “A man once told me that you step out of your door in the morning, and you are already in trouble. The only question is: Are you on top of that trouble or not?” says Easy Rawlings in the remarkable “Devil in a Blue Dress” (1995). I’m so excited I...
